Arrow S07E16 Review: Flash-Forward

Arrow, Season 7, Episode 16: Star City 2040

I don't think I've been keeping my genuine apathy for the flash-forward segments of this season of Arrow a secret. Because... well, it's not a storyline that genuinely interests me. The flashbacks have always been a part of Arrow that's equally a blessing and a curse, and I could go on a long rant on the strengths and weaknesses of the flashbacks... but the flash-forward? Other than the obvious Lost ripoff, it's honestly been pretty bland, with the tie-ins and obvious resolutions to some present-day storylines causing them to feel pretty much redundant, and the future cast just... just not really being all that interesting. Case in point, the ending of this episode has Felicity basically create the Archer program, and it's not all that exciting to find out considering we know how that particular storyline will end. Throw in the fact that we still have "Star City 2046" from Legends of Tomorrow that now feels less of a possible dark future and more of a "yep, that comes after this", means that I have even less motivation to be interested in this particular flash-forward storyline.

That said, though, despite my disdain for the flash-forward stuff in general, the episode itself is actually pretty solid, being probably the most exciting flash-forward storyline. Although admittedly, the competition's not that much. We get to see Mia being trained as she lives alone with Felicity alone in a cabin, trained by auntie Nyssa (that'd be a way to write out Felicity because Emily Bett Rickards is bowing out of the show at the end of this season) and... and Mia's storyline throughout this episode is... it's interesting. Discovering that her mother is still doing vigilante work on the side despite shutting her out from regular city life, Mia ends up being emo and runs away from home, hating vigilantes because she really hates her mother and is convinced that her parents are actually terrorists and that Felicity's only making the vigilantes sound like heroes in order to cover up the fact that they're criminals. It's certainly a neat direction to take, and one that makes it definitely the polar opposite of how another pair of mother/daughter stuff is going on over at The Flash with Iris and Nora.

The storyline for this episode, in addition to basically being Mia's huge character moment story, ends up being the future heroes trying to stop the huge destruction of Star City by the evil organization Eden Corps and their leader, Kevin Dale. Oh, and Mayor Rene of the Glades is just hopelessly duped into this. We get a fun little bit of spy infiltration stuff as our heroes uncover the conspiracy, and both Connor and Mia get a moment (they were dating, apparently) as they enter the Glades base and uncover Felicity trapped in a glass box. William and Mia pretending to be a businessman investor and secretary associate was also fun.

Of course, when the future hero squad finally meets Felicity (who ages really well, apparently), the confrontation between Felicity and Mia is pretty well done. Everyone jumps straight into heroism, even William, but Mia gets turned into a vulnerable little girl in this scene, asking her mother if being a hero means abandoning her own family -- something that Felicity notes is something that a hero should always be prepared to do. Of course, after a pep talk from Connor (featuring Spider-Man's catchphrase!) Mia finally comes around, and ends up getting a couple of fun action scenes as she beats up Kevin Dale's bodyguards in that... that utterly bizarre festival with cloaks that they're in. Silly future people!

Mayor Rene gets a brief character arc of basically, well, realizing that he's a thundering dumbass and ends up helping out the vigilantes, even if he's still forced to maintain his cover as an associate of Eden Corps and basically condemn the vigilantes afterwards. We get more hints that the future world still have a fair amount of things to deal with, since Kevin Dale... has a helmet? Mia and Felicity get a nice, warm moment of reconciliation, and Felicity notes that her stake in this particular conflict is personal, since, y'know, she was the one behind Archer in the first place.

Overall, though, it really does show how much more interesting and solid character developments can be when they're actually given the time to grow, yeah? Past moments have been rushed and truncated so much that I honestly haven't really cared, but focusing a lot on Mia and telling a nice, solid story instead of just random piecemeal bits of "they have an argument" or "they steal a cassette player and kinda bond" definitely works a lot better. I still don't care all that much about the 2040 plot, but at least Mia's a character now. I went in with zero expectations, and went out watching a pretty solid episode. Always a good feeling to be surprised like this.

DC Easter Eggs Corner:

• Eden Corps, the organization behind the bombing of Star City, previously appeared in an episode of The Flash, 'Enter Flashtime'. 
• Knightwatch, the organization Connor claims to be a part of, is a wing of the DEO in the comics. 
• Spider-Man references galore, with both the web-crawler and his catchphrase (with great power comes great responsibility) being spoken by Connor.